Ryoma
Ryoma (known in Japan as Ryoma) is the crown prince of Hoshido and probably the second most important character in all of Fire Emblem Fates. Yeah, regardless of path. Azura may be given second billing, but when you compare how much the two of them actually do, Ryoma ends up being far more important regardless of your path. Who is Ryoma? An overused lobster joke. (I say overused as a criticism, but it's going to end up appearing on this page at least once anyway.) He's also the crown prince of Hoshido and supposedly the main antagonist of Conquest. I say supposedly because Xander and Garon cause far more trouble for you than he does. Unlike Xander, he's due to inherit the throne from before the path split for reasons that I'll get to below. In Birthright, he serves as an ally and becomes your crutch. In Conquest, he serves as an ally whenever you're not killing everyone he knows and loves. In Revelation, he serves as an ally and becomes your crutch. But perhaps using Revelation is cheating since the first half is just Birthright. Worth noting is that he's voiced by Matt Mercer (also the voice of Chrom, Shigure, and ), who makes him a much more compelling character than the writers. Additionally, since he voices both Chrom and Ryoma, the two of whom are confirmed to support with each other in Warriors, we'll get Matt Mercer talking to Matt Mercer. Yeah, we know, pretty awesome. Ryoma in Fates Unfortunately for poor Ryoma, he's given the second half of pre-split Fates, which is when everything starts falling apart. After your field trip around Hoshido, where Corrin just accepts that these people he's never heard of are his family, Ryoma takes center stage for a filler chapter. Yeah, that early. It's meant to help establish Hoshido and get you to know the characters, but considering everything that's happened, the game really has no business with filler that early on. Anyway, Corrin goes back to Hoshido, and Garon's terrorist stuff happens, which kills Mikoto. Now, Mikoto is the queen of Hoshido and mother of the siblings and Corrin - wait, no she's not! Since Corrin can marry anyone, it's not technically incest if Mikoto was King Sumeragi's second wife. Which also causes problems since it muddies up the timeline a bit. See, Mikoto apparently came with Corrin while King Sumeragi was married, and when Sumeragi's first wife died, he married Mikoto. But Ryoma's the only one who knows that Corrin isn't his blood sibling (despite repeating that Corrin is in all three paths) which meanss that the others would've been too young to realize this. Which would have to place Hinoka, Takumi, and Sakura all very close to each other, age-wise. And it would also mean that Sumeragi was barely with Mikoto at all before dying. Even then, Hoshido's shown to be a patriarchal society, so it's a little strange that the throne would've gone to the woman who just appeared one day instead of Ryoma, who would've been the heir. But let's just ignore that since it's all a mess that doesn't make any sense and get back to the plot. See, Mikoto was so good and pure that her goodness created a barrier around all of Hoshido, and whenever any of the war-seeking Nohrians attempted to invade, this barrier caused them to lose the will to fight. Yes, that's what the game actually says. And there are people who say the plot's not that bad or even defend it. Moving on! With Mikoto's death (which also doesn't make any sense since Garon's terrorist sword tried to pull Corrin into the bottomless canyon, so it never would've been able to reach Mikoto anyway), Nohr invades (since they were apparently right there waiting this whole time), and Corrin has to choose between the people he grew up with all his life and the people he only just met who claim to be his real family. Birthright Together, Corrin and the Hoshidans drive back the evil Nohrians (gotta love that grey morality), and Ryoma disappears from the story for about the next fifth before he's brought up again. See, Ryoma disappears because he and Takumi were ambushed by Nohrians and have to split. Already, Ryoma has a justification for not showing up in his route immediately, unlike Xander. Moving on, it's later discovered that he disappeared because he was going undercover to help some rebels drive out Nohrians. As the plot continues, Ryoma takes a backseat to Corrin (even though, as with Xander and Conquest, Ryoma has no reason to let someone with no experience control an army). However, he still remains somewhat prominent as he acts like a leader in terms of everything outside of actually directing the army. Which makes sense since he's next in line for the throne. He promises to help the Nohrians after the war once the group invades, and unlike how the Nohrians wanted to kill the in Shura, Ryoma reveals his identity and promises to give this guy gold. Yeah, did you really expect this guy to be smart considering he lets Corrin handle everything? Never mind that he's pretty much left the kingdom in the control of Mikoto's retainer. That would've been an awesome twist. Head back to Hoshido afterward only to find out that Mr. Least Popular Male in the Game's taken over. Anyway, you continue your invasion of Nohr, Ryoma continues acting like a king, and just... doesn't do anything notable. Thing is, he's in every cutscene, and he still acts like a leader, but if your name's not Corrin or Iago, strangely enough, you don't do anything in these games. Ryoma's still probably the second most important character in all three games in terms of what he actually does, but it's impossible for that to amount to much considering the plot actively revolves around Corrin at every second. Anyway, Xander's dead, Elise's dead, Garon's dead, everyone's dead, but Nohr will be in good hands under Leo, who never actually had a reason for surviving considering Conquest Leo would've fought to the bitter end. So Ryoma heads back to Hoshido with Corrin and his siblings and becomes the king. And that's it. Yeah, Ryoma's about as interesting as Birthright is in general. Conquest This is where it gets fun, and we see Ryoma's true colors. See, Ryoma thinks that Corrin's been brainwashed for going back to the people he grew up with and swears to get Corrin back. Remember, Conquest is the path where you're constantly given grief for not choosing glorius nippon, so even though Ryoma's gonna do some pretty questionable stuff moving forward, he'll never get called out on it. This is your only warning. But if nothing else, it's entertaining how evil he is as a villain. Ryoma only actively antagonizes you in one chapter in Conquest prior to the invasion of Hoshido, but considering he's pretty much the king at this point and actively leads both the other siblings and the ultimate defense, he can still count as the main antagonist (outside of Garon, of course). See, at one point, Elise becomse sick for reasons, and Corrin attempts to make it to some place that happens to be the only place that can save her. You know, Leo has warp magic, but he only seems to remember that when it's convenient for him. Anyway, Ryoma somehow catches word of Elise's illness, intercepts Corrin, and blocks off wherever it is they're going. He says that he'll only let Elise get the cure if Corrin rejoins. Yeah, that's right. Ryoma actively threatens to let the little girl (t e c h n i c a l l y a n a d u l t) die of a terminal illness. That's how hell-bent he is on getting Corrin back. Any reasonable person would submit and attempt to come up with a plan to get out of there, but no, Corrin decides to take his chances. They end up fighting the Hoshidans off, and Elise gets her cure. But still, isn't that something? Ryoma's a dedicated lob- almost made that overused joke again. Man. He's a dedicated man. Later on, he appears in the Thanksgiving chapter as a hostage since Zola somehow captured all four Hoshidans. They should be either killed or at least negotiated with, but instead, no one bothers with any of this. Even better, Ryoma doesn't even acknowledge Azura, someone he grew up with as a sister, when the ten royals eat together at the end of the chapter. Then the invasion of Hoshido happens. Ryoma, of course, is the last line of defense within Castle Hoshido. He's prepared to fight to the death, but he's made to think that Hinoka was killed. For some reason, he doesn't care about Sakura, his delicate little sister who's a war prisoner at best (to be fair, shee somehow isn't scarred for life by this), or Takumi, his younger brother who was consumed with teh thought of killing Corrin and actively fell off of Trump's wall. No, Hinoka's what breaks him. The irony, of course, is that she's in a better situation than her siblings. Anyway, Ryoma goes mad at seeing this and duels Corrin to the death. Corrin wins but refuses to finish him. Garon uses his favorite Xander threat and tells Corrin that either Xander dies, or he does, and Ryoma admits to not having anything to live for anymore, but Corrin still refuses. So Corrin doesn't have a choice at this point and still believes that a kingdom can be conquered without bloodshed while the king lies bleeding out a few feet away, but this really shouldn't surprise you considering it's Conquest Corrin. Corrin manages to tell Ryoma that Hinoka's still alive in such a way that the several Nohrians who want him dead just behind them don't hear this, so Ryoma realizes that he has to die. Because, once more, never mind Sakura, Takumi, Mikoto, or the pseudo-genocide that's happened in the country. Corrin still takes priority. And considering Ryoma's supposed to be a traditional samurai, it should be pretty clear what comes next. Then he appears one last time with Takumi, Mikoto, and Lilith in the Deathly Hallows ripoff. Revelation Who likes favoritism even in what's supposed to be the perfect route? As with Xander, Ryoma gets confused because Corrin hasn't chosen either side and tries to kill him. Which seems like a stupid thing to do until you remember how in Birthright, Xander was an, and this path is mostly Birthright. So we reach the chapter where Xander and Ryoma fight. Corrin tries to tell them to meet him at the bottomless canyon on the last possible day to jump in. Xander doesn't believe him and leaves, but Ryoma, maintaining consistency in how his blind following of Corrin defies all logic, listens and gets everyone left outside of Yukimura to join Corrin. Xander joins shortly afterward at the last possible minute because of plot, but more of that on his page. So everyone makes it in, and you'd think that with almost the full cast of both games together, they'd all get shafted or else a few moments, right? Nah, not remotely. Ryoma gets a moment with Scarlet's death (and then you fight her later and can make her own child kill her), Azura gets to face her mother a few times, Corrin and the Hoshidans get both Mikoto and Sumeragi, and... that's it. Yeah, really. Garon makes a small appearance at the end because of a forgotten loose end (never mind that he shouldn't have even been able to get there in the first place), and the Nohrians really don't even react. But Ryoma actually gets a pretty good conversation with Sumeragi. Considering Azura still doesn't do anything, even in the path that's supposed to be hers, I think it's pretty clear that Ryoma's more important in the grand scheme of things than anyone outside of Corrin. And then the ending hits, where Corrin marries Azura (yes, it's canon, it's teh only Corrin pairing that gets any attention at all, as well as a different ending, similar to Chrom and Sumia and Male Robin and Lucina), never mind that the game immediately forgets that they're first cousins after one mention, and the royals all part.ways. They're all pretty happy because the game seems to forget that according to its own lore, they'll likely never see Corrin again. It's pretty amazing that Ryoma isn't heartbroken, but whatever, happy ending. Ryoma in Heroes He's in Heroes. That's really about it. He gets his own map bsaed on the one where you fight him in Conquest, which includes the 1v1, which is pretty cool, but up until the swap feature was introduced, it meant instant death for quite a few first slot units. Ryoma in Warriors He's in Warriors along with the other Hoshidans, but he's been missing since E3. If you can find him, the reward is a better game. Ryoma in Smash Ryoma actually seems betrayed when Corrin chooses to Smash, but he never actually considers brainwashing or fighting back. But at least we get a trailer partially narrated by Matt Mercer. Ryoma's Retainers Ryoma has two retainers. They're both ninjas, which means they should be jokes, but that ninja hallway in Conquest is an instant death trap. Although it isn't as bad going up the other side. Problem is, you only get 25 turns before Ryoma starts the 1v1 himself, so if you want to get everyone in there, you have to be quick. Also, Saizo is Mario, Kaze is Luigi, Kagero is Peach, and whatshisname is Bowser. Saizo The brother of Kaze, who joins you on every route. Saizo actually gets his own chapter in Conquest where you defeat Bowser, but then you still end up fighting him a few chapters later. Also, his title is "angry ninja." Yeah, even though he got more than most characters, they still went low effort with him. Kagero I'd skip the obvious and talk about her personality, but character-wise, she suffers Hoshido Syndrome, which makes her one of the least memorable and most boring among Fates' already bad cast. But her Japanese support with Azama is pretty good for poking fun at her wardrobe, if nothing else. Raijinto It's a holy sword or something. It was once wielded by Sumeragi but ped down to Ryoma upon his death (which creates another plot hole since it would mean he didn't have it with him when he went to Nohr and died for some reason), which gives it slightly more lore than any of the other divine weapons. Ryoma's boring son, Shiro, who becomes the crown prince of Hoshido and next in line regardless of Ryoma's marital status, inherits it in Heirs of Fate, but we don't talk about that. Trivia *Ryoma's critical as a Swordmaster in Fates appears in Warriors as one of his attack animations. *Even though Scarlet is his waifu, and he spends a lot of time grieving over her death in Revelation, he cannot marry or even support with her in Birthright as she is one of the few Corrin uals. This is likely because she's not playable in Revelation for more than two chapters. Likewise, fellow Corrin uals Izana and Yukimura are not playable in Revelation at all, Fuga's exclusive to Revelation and Anna's DLC. Flora, Reina, Gunter, and Shura don't have any real reason to be Corrin uals, but the first four are reason enough that Scarlet is. Category:Fire Emblem Characters Category:Fire Emblem Fates Characters Category:Fire Emblem Characters not from Awakening Category:Fire Emblem Heroes Characters Category:Fire Emblem Warriors Characters Category:Royalty Category:Characters with Fabulous Hair Category:Swordsmen Category:S Category:Animea Category:Animea Trash to be Removed Category:Wanted Newcomers Category:Husbandos Category:Has too many waifus/husbandos Category:Royals Category:Incestuous Category:Siblings Category:Waifu Emblem Characters Category:Daddies